On the afternoon of July 27, President Chen Shui-bian reiterated the point he brought up this morning at the opening plenary of the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development that "Taiwan should set its cross-strait trade within a global framework, and Taiwan cannot afford to place all its economic bets on the China market."
He made the statement again when meeting with five fellows and staff members of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), who showed to the president their interest in the government's attitude toward cross-strait relations and the European Union's (EU) arms embargo against China.
Regarding the cross-strait relations, the president responded that Taiwan, in line with US President Bush's call for cross-strait talks, is willing to have dialogues with China as long as the principles of sovereignty, democracy, peace, and parity are maintained and respected.
Cross-strait dialogues are the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and in the Asian Pacific region, he said, adding that in the next two years he will continue to insist on "Taiwan Consciousness" and preventing Taiwan from being marginalized and treated as a local government by China.
As to the issue of the EU's arms embargo against China, the president said if, regardless of its Parliament's resolutions and the concerns of the United States and Japan, the EU decides to lift this ban and sell weapons to China, it will be a ridiculous irony in that the EU would be helping an undemocratic and unfree China to suppress a democratic and free Taiwan.
Headed by GMF expert and the Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan, these fellows included Garry Schmitt, director of American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) program on advanced strategic studies, Mark Leonard, director of foreign policy at the Center for European Reform, Andrew Small, China program manager of the Foreign Policy Center, and Jeremiah Schatt, special assistant to the GMF president. Taiwan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco L.Y. Hwang was also present in the meeting.